Kenneth E. Wells was born in Muskegon, Michigan, on December 17, 1896, the eldest son of Paris E. Wells and Hattie O. Nelson Wells. During World War I, he served in the Army Medical Corps. After receiving a B.A. in 1923 from Jamestown College in North Dakota, he taught school for one year in Souris, North Dakota. In 1927, he received a B.D. from McCormick Theological Seminary and a M.A. from the University of Chicago Divinity School.

On June 16, 1926, Wells was ordained in Jamestown, North Dakota, by the Presbytery of Fargo-Oakes of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (PCUSA). Two days later, he married college classmate Mary Margaretta Burr in Rugby, North Dakota. She was born in Bottineau, North Dakota, on May 15, 1902, to Alexander George Burr (who served on the North Dakota Supreme Court from 1926 to 1949) and Josephine Carothers Burr. She graduated in 1923 with a B.A. in English from Jamestown College and received an M.A. in English from the University of Michigan in 1924.

In March 1927, the Wellses were commissioned as missionaries by the Board of Foreign Missions of the PCUSA and appointed to the Siam Mission as teachers in Chiang Mai, northern Siam (now Thailand). They arrived in Bangkok in October of the same year and commenced with Thai language study. Kru Tardt, their instructor, and Kenneth and Margaret Landon, missionary colleagues and fellow language school students, became the Wellses’ lifelong friends. Margaret Landon went on to write the historical novel, Anna and the King of Siam, published in 1944. By August 1928, the Wellses were in Chiang Mai at Prince Royal’s College, a school for boys. In addition to their teaching duties, Kenneth Wells did evangelistic work in villages and chaired the Siam Mission Educational Committee from 1933 to 1937. Margaretta Wells tutored the daughter of the Viceroy of the Northern Provinces and edited a quarterly mission publication, the Siam Outlook, for most of the 1930s. It was during this time, that the Wellses met fellow missionaries and lifelong friends Henry R. O'Brien and his wife, Mary Lou O’Brien. The O’Briens were stationed in Chiang Mai, and Dr. O’Brien was on the staff of the mission hospital.

In 1938 the Wellses returned with their children, Roberta Catherine (born in Chiang Mai in 1933) and Kenneth Alexander Burr (born in Chiang Mai in 1935), to the United States on their second furlough. Kenneth Wells completed resident work on his doctorate at Columbia University and received the degree in 1940 after the 1939 publication of his Ph.D. dissertation, Thai Buddhism: Its Rites and Activities, in Bangkok.

In 1940, the Board of Foreign Missions confirmed Kenneth Wells’s election as station treasurer and, with the retirement of William Harris, he became headmaster of Prince Royal’s College. However, Wells and his family were forced to flee from the invading Japanese in December 1941, going first to Burma. From Burma they were evacuated to Calcutta and then to Allahabad, India, where Kenneth Wells taught at Ewing Christian College. In September 1942, Margaretta Wells and the children returned to the United States, where they resided in Bismarck, North Dakota.

After Kenneth Wells returned to the United States in June 1943, the Wells family relocated to Arlington, Virginia. As a senior research analyst in the Southern Asia Section (Far East Division, Research and Analysis Branch) of the Office of Strategic Services, Wells worked the Thai desk. He became section chief in 1945. In October of the same year, the Research and Analysis Branch was transferred to the Department of State. Wells took leave of his section in November to prepare for his return to the mission field in Thailand.

In March 1946, Kenneth Wells returned to Chiang Mai. He reopened Prince Royal’s College and resumed his position as headmaster. In July he received two decorations, the Santimala and the Order of the White Elephant, from the Thai government for his wartime services and educational work. In February 1947, Margaretta Wells and the children joined him at Prince Royal’s College. The Wellses hosted many guests including church and government officials. In addition to her work at Prince Royal’s College and Dara Academy, Margaretta Wells set up a home school for Roberta and Kenneth and several other children using the Calvert Correspondence System in Baltimore and later the American School System from Chicago.

In 1951, the Wells family returned to the United States on furlough and, in the following year, the Board of Foreign Missions granted the Wellses a leave of absence from the Thai mission field. From 1951 to 1953, Kenneth Wells served as an intelligence research specialist in the Southern Areas Branch (Division of Research for the Far East) of the Department of State. During this period, Margaretta Wells wrote articles which appeared in American Girl and National Geographic.

In 1953, Kenneth Wells returned to the mission field in Thailand and was stationed in Bangkok. He served as the director of the new Christian Education and Literature Department of the Church of Christ in Thailand. (Established in 1934, the CCT is the national Protestant church.) Wells oversaw the move of the department into the new church headquarters building in Bangkok, assembled and supervised a staff of Thai writers and editors, oversaw the opening of Christian bookstores, supervised and edited church publications, and wrote The History of the Protestant Work in Thailand, 1828-1958. He also served on the Thai Bible Revision Committee. From 1965 until his retirement in June 1967, Wells was the Acting Commission Representative in Thailand for the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR) of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

From 1954 until his graduation from Macalester College in 1956, Margaretta Wells lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her son. She arrived in Bangkok in June 1956. She taught English at Wattana Wittaya Academy and worked at the Christian Bookstore. During this period, she wrote several books including the popular guide books to Bangkok and Chiang Mai. She was active in church and community organizations. As a member of the American Women’s Club of Thailand, she served as president for the program year 1966-1967. She also served on the board of the Thai Cancer Society. While living in Bangkok, the Wellses entertained many tourists as well as visiting friends and fellow workers.

Following the Wellses’ retirement from missionary service in 1967, they moved to Newport News, Virginia, where they led active lives. From 1970 to 1976, Kenneth Wells served as an intermittent chaplain at the Veterans Administration Center in Hampton, Virginia. In 1968, he wrote his unpublished career memoirs (“Thailand Story”). Margaretta Wells continued writing; speaking in churches, high schools, and to women’s groups; and giving lectures. In 1974 and 1976, she made presentations to the Thai Committee of Washington of the Asia Society. During these years, the Wellses maintained contact with their missionary and Thai friends through correspondence and reciprocating visits.

Kenneth Wells died in Newport News on December 1, 1981. Margaretta Wells died in Newport News on December 26, 1999. Their memorial services were held at Hidenwood Presbyterian Church, Newport News, where they had been active members.

Collection Overview

The Kenneth E. Wells and Margaretta B. Wells Papers document the couple’s life and work, particularly their missionary service to Thailand, as well as their family. From 1927 to 1967, the Wellses served under the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR) of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. With the dissolution of the Thailand Mission in 1957, the Wellses became fraternal workers in Thailand with the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT), representing the UPCUSA.

The collection’s correspondence, writings, photographs, and other materials document the Wellses’ missionary work, life, and family in Thailand, including the family’s escape when Japanese forces invaded in December 1941, as well as their interests in Thai culture and the history of Protestant mission work in Thailand. Also documented are Kenneth Wells’s service with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II and the Department of State from 1951 to 1953, and his expertise on Thai Buddhism. The papers document Prince Royal’s College and other educational institutions, the Church of Christ in Thailand, Thai Christians, and the Wellses’ friendships with fellow missionaries, Thai friends, and colleagues. The collection also documents the Wellses’ post-missionary years in Newport News, Virginia.

The personal series, 1926-2000, features clippings primarily concerning the Wellses and their children, Roberta and Kenneth; certificates of appreciation and citations as well as clergy, missionary, travel, residential, and birth certificates for the Wellses; assorted material documenting Kenneth E. Wells’s service with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II and the Department of State in the early 1950s; and invitations, programs, orders of worship, cards, and ephemera. It also includes biographical sketches of the Wellses and Margaretta Wells’s autobiographical reminiscences re-worked into a first person account by Roberta Wells Rogers in 2000.

The correspondence series comprises five subseries: Wells family, 1915-1987; supporting churches, 1927-1970; chronological, 1927, 1933, 1941-1995; missionary friends and colleagues 1932-1995; and Thai friends and colleagues, 1945-1989. The bulk of the Wells family correspondence consists of Kenneth E. Wells’s letters to his wife. The letters are primarily from two periods of separation: February 1946 to January 1947 and September 1953 to May 1956. The bulk of Margaretta Wells’s letters to her husband are from July 1942 to March 1943. The letters of Kenneth A.B. Wells to his parents are primarily from 1963 to 1967. Also included is correspondence between Margaretta Wells and her father, A.G. Burr, and between Kenneth E. Wells and his mother, Hattie Nelson Wells Henry.

The supporting churches subseries consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence each arranged chronologically. The bulk of the correspondence consists of Kenneth E. Wells’s outgoing letters to supporting churches from 1927 to 1967. The chronological subseries consists primarily of assorted incoming correspondence to the Wellses and some interfiled outgoing correspondence. A portion of the correspondence is work related and correspondents include the Board of Foreign Missions, COEMAR, other national office staff, and Horace W. Ryburn of the Thailand field office.

The missionary friends and colleagues subseries consists of three groups of correspondence. The first group consists of correspondence arranged alphabetically by the correspondent’s last name. The inclusive date for all correspondence is 1932 to 1995. The second and third groups comprise the Wells/Landon correspondence and the Wells/O’Brien correspondence, respectively. The Wells/Landon correspondence, 1935-1990, documents the lifelong friendship between the Wellses and Kenneth (1903-1993) and Margaret (1903-1993) Landon, as well as documenting their families. The correspondence consists of original and carbon copies of incoming and outgoing correspondence arranged chronologically. Files from 1966 to 1986 include photographs, clippings, writings, and other materials enclosed with the original correspondence from the Wellses to the Landons. The Wells/O’Brien correspondence, 1931-1970, documents the friendship between the Wellses and Henry (1891-1970) and Mary Lou (1896-1984) O’Brien. The correspondence consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence, interfiled chronologically, the bulk of which consists of the Wellses’ original letters, particularly those of Kenneth Wells to Henry O’Brien.

The Thai friends and colleagues correspondence, 1945-1989, is arranged alphabetically by correspondent’s last name. The most extensive correspondence is from the Wellses’ lifelong friend, Kru Tardt (Tardt Pradipasena). Other correspondents include the Reverend Charoon Wichaidist and Koson Srisang, who served as general secretaries of the Church of Christ in Thailand.

The report series consists primarily of Kenneth E. Wells’s reports for Prince Royal’s College, 1946-1947, 1951; the first installment of his 1958 report on his trip to Central and South America; his 1964 personal report and 1966 Thailand narrative report; and Margaretta Wells’s 1960s personal reports.

The biographical, historical, and subjectmaterialseries is arranged alphabetically and dates from 1878 to 1996. The series consists primarily of assorted biographical material documenting missionaries to Thailand; the foreign community in Thailand; and Thais, Thai Christians, and Thai royalty. Also included are assorted historical material and the Wellses’ annotated copy of the 1928 Historical Sketch of Protestant Missions in Siam, 1828-1928.

The writings and related correspondence and material series comprises three subseries: Kenneth E. Wells, 1920s-1991; Margaretta B. Wells, 1936-1995; and other authors, 1935-1988. The material in all three subseries is interfiled alphabetically by title, topic, and type of material.

The photographs and negatives series comprises five subseries: missionaries and Thai Christians, circa 1890-1987; institutions, circa 1900-1981; chronological, 1893, 1900s-1990s; oversize images, circa 1859-1964; and negatives, circa 1948-1950, 1969, 1987. The first subseries consists primarily of photographs of missionaries and missionary families who served in Thailand. They are arranged alphabetically by last name and includes group photographs of mission meetings, Thai Christians, and Christian workers. The second subseries primarily documents educational institutions including Aroon Pradist School, Bangkok Christian College, Dara Academy, Prince Royal’s College, Thailand Theological Seminary, and Wang Lang School. Other photographs document the Leper asylum in Chiang Mai, McCormick Hospital and School of Nursing, and the Church of Christ in Thailand. The images are arranged alphabetically by the name of the institution. A portion has identifying information and some are undated. The largest group of photographs document Prince Royal’s College, particularly the February 1948 visit of U.S. Ambassador Edwin F. Stanton and the March 1958 visit of King Phumibol Rama IX and Queen Sirkit. The largest subseries consists of photographs arranged chronologically by decade and undated. The majority have identifying information. The photographs primarily document: Kenneth E. and Margaretta Wells, their children, and other Wells, Burr, and Carothers family members; mission work and missionaries; Thai Christians; the Church of Christ in Thailand; churches; educational and medical institutions; the Thai royal family; the Thai people; weddings; architecture; Buddhists and temples; and Chiang Mai and Bangkok. The oversize images are arranged alphabetically by description and are primarily portraits, missionary group photographs, and class pictures. The negatives are mostly unidentified and undated.

The slide series includes a collection of images, 1948-1971, of Chiang Mai, the Department of Christian Literature of the CCT, Bangkok Christian College, Wattana Wittaya Academy, Petchaburi, Chiang Rai, and churches. Additional slides are of Kenneth E. Wells’s 84th birthday in December 1980 and his memorial service on December 7, 1981.

The photograph albums series primarily documents the Wellses’ April 1930 journey to Baptist missions at Loi Mwe and Keng Tung in eastern Burma; their April 1931 journey to the Presbyterian mission station at Chiang Rung (Kiulungkiang) in the Yunnan Province of South China; their 1931 travels through the Middle East, Europe, and Britain en route to New York; Kenneth E. Wells’s April 1935 journey to Chiang Rung (Kiulungkiang) and Keng Tung; and family, missionary colleagues, friends, and Thai scenes. These albums have some identifying information. The 1960s albums feature the Wellses in Thailand. The photographs are mounted on self-adhesive pages that have no identifying information. Some images are loose, and most have identifying information on the reverse side.

The scrapbook series consists of material concerning the film, play, and stage musical versions of Margaret Landon’s 1944 historical novel, Anna and the King of Siam; the American Women’s Club of Thailand and Margaretta Wells’s 1966-1967 presidency; and letters, remembrances, anecdotes, words of appreciation, and photographs from friends and missionary colleagues to the Wellses on their retirement from missionary service.

The drawings series consists of circa 1930s colored and black and white pencil drawings, that depict scenes typical of rural northern Siam by Evalee Skinner Proctor, a friend and missionary colleague (Siam Mission, 1928-1933) of the Wellses.

The audio-visual material series includes two audio interviews of Margaretta Wells. A 1967 interview focuses on the family’s December 1941 journey of escape from Thailand, their arrival in the United States, and the war years in Washington D.C. An undated interview focuses on the Wellses’ October 1927 arrival in Bangkok; missionary colleagues and Thai friends; events; and Thai people, culture, and religion. A circa 1972 audio cassette letter from Ray Downs to the Wellses primarily concerns Chiang Mai, the Church of Christ in Thailand and church issues, and mutual friends. The series also includes a circa 1930s Wells family home movie, filmed in Thailand.

Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.

Related Material

Researchers should also consult the Kenneth A.B. Wells Papers for biographies of Kenneth E. and Margaretta B. Wells, that provide additional description of, and biographical context to, materials in this collection. For other materials prepared by Wells relating to his father see:

Record Group 394, Guide to the Henry R. O'Brien Papers, 1921-1970

Record Group 84, Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations. Secretaries' files: Thailand Mission

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Received from members of the Wells family between 1989 and 2007 and from Mrs. Giles C. (Martha Jane O'Brien) Fenn in 1989.

Box 18, folder 1, originally included a second-generation audio cassette recorded from open reel audio tape. Cassette found illegible, removed from collection; audio tape transferred to digital audio, 28 November 2016.

Guidebooks to Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand, material for COEMAR tourist guidebook, guidebook for Thai exchange students (typescript working copy), and related correspondence and material, 1958-1968, 1976 and undated

6

21

Historical sketch on Bangkok Christian College and related correspondence, 1969

6

22-23

History of Bangkok Christian College material, circa late 1960s-circa early 1970s

6

24

“International Debt” (typescripts), circa early to mid-1950s and undated

6

25

Manuscripts and typescripts, 1985 and undated

7

1

1974 presentation to the Thai Committee of Washington of the Asia Society on“American Life in Siam During the Third and Fourth Reigns (1824-1868)” and related correspondence and material, 1974 and undated

Now in Thailand, Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1951

7

24

Photocopy of Connie Hudson’s first draft of the first section of her unfinished book on a family of missionaries (Bradleys and McGilvarys) spanning four generations in Thailand and related correspondence, 1987-1988

7

25

Photocopy of Margaret Landon’s typescript, “Anna and I,” undated

7

26

Photocopy of William L. Bradley’s typescript, “Mr. Kellett and Dr. Cheek: The Uses and Abuses of Extra-Territoriality,” 1986

Presbyterian Life photograph by Henry L. McCorkle of Kenneth E. Wells at the Office of Christian Education and Literature, Church of Christ of Thailand, Church Headquarters (Sapah) Building, Bangkok, 1957

11

11

The Christian Bookstore, New Road, Bangkok, 1957

Subseries 5: Negatives, circa 1948-1950, 1969, 1987

12

1

“Arts from the Golden Triangle,” an exhibition of Margaretta B. Wells’s fine art collection at the 1846 Courthouse Museum, Portsmouth, Va., 1987 May

Album documenting the Wellses’ April 1930 journey to Baptist missions at Loi Mwe and Keng Tung in eastern Burma; also Thai scenes, missionary colleagues, and the Wellses, 1930 and undated

13

2

Album primarily documenting the Wellses’ April 1931 journey to the Presbyterian mission station at Chiang Rung (Kiulungkiang) in the Yunnan Province of South China and their travels through the Middle East, Europe, and Britain en route to New York, 1931 and undated

Audio cassette letter from Ray Downs to the Wellses re (side 1) Chiang Mai, the university program, the Church of Christ in Thailand, mutual friends, and the 14th General Assembly of the CCT and church issues; re (side 2) Thai music added by Downs, circa 1972